To ALL my friends who finished their Nano-Journey I wish you a heartfelt CONGRATS!! *tosses confetti and throws streamers* *Pops cork* Pop! *Pours* *clink*

Even if you didn't 'win' but gave it your best daily effort, I deem it a win.

If you learned more about your writing process and who you are as a writer, I think you should claim it a huge success.

I am blessed to have talented, loving, brilliant CPs. CPs that love words and art and music as much as I do. A day does not pass without my feeling grateful for them...and for YOU.

I know this sounds trite, if not sappy, but it's true. I'm grateful for you. For writers and musicians and artists everywhere.

So, as you may know, four of my CPs decided to do Nano with me this year (and plenty of YOU, too!).

All 5 of us went BICHOK (butt in chair, hands on keyboard) and won. (see my sidebar graph-->) I'm proud, proud, proud.

I've read chunks of all of their Nano-WiPs...they're all SO damn good, unique, character driven yet action packed. (Being their CP is a pleasure.)

Dude, even their raw quick-and-dirty Nano writing is stellar. Summer's story is impossibly fresh and her verb choices are not merely strong and intriguing, but radiant. Portia's twisted MC had me lusting to be killed. JP...his story is going to make me cry, dammit. Maybe even to the snot-bubble zone. And my alt.-rock-loving 'Anna' (not sure if she wants me to reveal her real self...so I won't link her or her name until further notice) has romantic angst to spare.

To all the Nano "Winners" everywhere ...CHEERS!If you kicked some Word-Count or Revision Ass...

Cheers!

PLEASE, though, take a year (or more) to revise and polish your manuscript and have quality CPs critique your work before you even think about querying it.

(if you haven't seen this clip, make sure you aren't drinking or eating anything while watching. Prepare to laugh until you cry. The horror.)

Jennifer's writing grabbed me hard from page one. The story's powerful love of music made my heart sing, even while it was breaking for the MC.
I won't even go into the amount of painstaking research Jennifer must have done to write this book, because it makes me feel like a slacker.
I'm in love with Jennifer Donnelly's writing and this book.

Oh, and I'd like to thank Catherine Bell at CBWriter for being my 600th friend! Please give her a visit and say hello, congratulate her on winning Nano.

Thanks to all of you for being in my life and allowing me to be in yours. ♡

So, how was your November? How is YOUR writing/revising/editing going?Read any beautiful books lately that make you feel like you should just hang it up? (Please, do tell.)

DUDE, I totally just set that bitchin' Camus quote as my desktop. I collect all awesome things with my name on them. :D :D :D I know you were totes thinking of me with that, right?? :D

We have an amazing group. And just think--the five of us wrote over 250,000 words together! Maybe we could mash them all together into one EPIC novel and have it published for the Christmas shopping season!!

Congrats on your NaNo win! I decided November would be my clean up other messes in my life month. Ha! You'll be happy to know I finally got a dishwasher after 10 years w/o one. I'm still a bit in a daze about the extra hour a day it gives me.

Congratulations on you and your group's NaNo success. I hit the 50,000 word mark at about 5:30 this morning and plan to bury the entire WIP in the backyard (or at least I would if the ground wasn't already frozen). Good luck with the revision stage of the project.

Yay!! Awww well done lovely Lola!!!!! And well done all your lovely CPs who shared the joys of Nano with you!! You are all winners and I hope you all break open the champers and have a nice long toast! CHEERS!!!

HUGE CONGRATS!!!! to you and your buds too! It feels great, I have to admit. SO you think a whole year???? Wow, I'd say a few months ... but a whole year??? REally??? Wow!That video was hysterical!! :)

Aw, that's brilliant! Congratulations to all of you, lovelies!! It's always more of a win when you can share it with friends.

Hello Catherine!

Loved that video, by the way. I saw it just today on someone else's blog. So funny! I actually did end up working with my current ms for a year (it was last years NaNo), although I had never intended to work on it so long...but hopefully now it's something worthwhile.

Will be sure to look up Jennifer Donnelly! Sounds beautiful.

Hope you blast into December with passion and joy, luv. Talk to you soon!

Congratulations on your win and for your group's win. I got a solid 80% success rate out of my group (only one member didn't finish) but it beats the 17% Chris Baty talked about in his book, No Plot, No Problem! Yay!

Funny how you got romantic angst from mine - then I remembered I only shared those snips. The romance you all saw is about all there is - everything else focuses on Kasia kicking trafficker butt (and getting herself into trouble).

I wrote a huge scene yesterday (massive spoiler stuff), and found another 1700 word snip I never added, but didn't bother to retotal on the NaNo site.

And there's so much good stuff in it, I don't know where to start with my comment. So I'll just say yay for NaNo success, and yes, let's hope everyone spends the next year doing a lot of revising before querying these bad boys. :)

Finishing NaNo must be like finishing up with all your exams at the end of the semester. No matter how you did, just being done is a thrill. Now you can get some pitchers of beer and tuck dollar bills into some guy's g-string over at the strip club.

Not that I would ever do such a thing. Being as prim, proper, and ladylike as I am.

OoO, congratulations on winning Nano!! I haven't done it yet. I signed up once, wrote about a sentence, freaked out, and have never tried again... maybe next year. ;)Also, I loved A Northern Light and can't wait to get my hot little hands on Revolution.Happy December! I hope your fingers get a chance to stretch out and relax. ;)

I don't know which was funnier, the kitty (I can edit your face) or the video. Too funny! I made the word count for NaNo, though I didn't get it added in time, but I'm not finished with the whole thing. I need another 15,000-20,000 words. It was such a great experience though!!

Laurel, I can't believe you remember that I was horror stricken by you not having a dishwasher. That was a while ago. Well, I am indeed pleased to know you now have one now. :) Life is too short to hand wash dishes every day, in my opinion. But, yeah, what a nice way to roll into the holidays! Yay Laurel! *hugs*

Jennie, you're winner.

Robin, Revolution is a huge leap forward, IMO, from Northern Light. Revolution is one of those books that makes me feel like a lazy hack.

very proud of you! I am working on the last few chapters of my book and hoping this will be the last run-through in revision hell. Am giving myself until the 16th (when granny comes to visit and the holidays get busy) to get er done. will share some champers with you then. :)

Lola, I'm new to your blog and think I've unearthed a gem! You have a fantastic blog!Although I haven't been around for the long haul, I understand congratulations are in order! Anything sucessful is worth crowing over! Hugs, Karen

YAY to you and all your cps!!!!! (and everyone else who participated in Nano and met their goals)

I read a couple of the Diary of A Wimpy Kid books and they were soooo funny. They are really inspiring to me. I love journal style books. I'e never really gotten into funny books, but these made me laugh out loud!

Congratulations on being a winner in Nano; to you an' all your cp's. That's a lotta' work, but well worth it. I hope each of you gets your novel published by Christmas.

I just found a link last night that you might like. This young man offers a free ten-day course on how to grow your blog. He must know what he's talking about because he has more than 1900 subscribers. I'm trying to spread the word to as many other bloggers as possible.

I see that you are a Follower on Lenny's blog. I hope you will join me in helping him to get 250 Followers by Christmas. You can read more about it here. Thanks. ~ Yaya

So November was so crazy for me with NaNo, that I'm just barely getting back to normal life (though, I'm still trying to finish up the book I started. I still have a few chapters to go). But at least now the house is clean :)

May your pen be mighty

About Me

Lola Sharp

My name is Lola. (I'm not a showgirl) Yes, L-O-L-A Lola. It's the least of my worries. Let's move on, shall we?
This blog is mostly about my misadventures on the journey to publication and beyond. My passion for lush prose, quirky characters, art, music, literature, performing arts and anything creative will be a major theme here. This journey of mine will not always be pretty. Much like rubbernecking a train wreck, I know sometimes you just can't help but look at the carnage that is often my life. So strap on your neck brace, helmet and 5-point harness and come along for the ride!
Licentia poetica.